Bodies in Plural: Towards an Anarcha-Feminist Manifesto

Abstract

It has become a commonplace to state that domination takes place through a multiplicity of axes it, where gender, class, race, and sexuality intersect with one another. How­ever, intersectionality is very rarely linked to the anarchist tradition that preceded it. In this article, I articulate this point by showing the usefulness but also the limits of the notion of in­tersectionality to understand mechanisms of domination and then argue for the need of an anarcha-feminist research program. Secondly, I will try to provide the philosophical framework for such an enterprise by arguing that it is in a Spinozist ontology of the transindividual that we can best find the conceptual resources for thinking about the plural nature of women’s bodies and thus of their oppression. This will allow me to attempt to articulate the question of “what it means to be a woman” in pluralistic terms and thus also to defend a specifically feminist form of anarchism. In conclusion, I will go back to the anarcha-feminist tradition and will show why today it is the best possible ally of feminism in the pursuit of a critical theory of society.